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[Journal of the House of Representatives, 1995]
[Tuesday, October 24, 1995 (133), Para 133.16 Notice Requirement--Consideration of Resolution--Question of Privileges]
[Pages 1583-1584]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

para.133.16  notice requirement--consideration of resolution--question 
          of privileges

  Ms. SLAUGHTER, pursuant to clause 2(a)(1) of rule IX, announced her 
intention to call up the following resolution, as a question of the 
privileges of the House:

       To direct the Speaker to provide an appropriate remedy in 
     response to the use of a forged document at a subcommittee 
     hearing.
       Whereas, on September 28, 1995, the Subcommittee on 
     National Economic Growth, Natural Resources and Regulatory 
     Affairs of the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight 
     held a hearing on political advocacy of Federal grantees;
       Whereas, the president of the Alliance for Justice, a 
     national association of public interest and civil rights 
     organizations testified at that hearing;
       Whereas, a document was placed upon the press table for 
     distribution at the hearing which contained the letterhead, 
     including the name, address, phone number, fax number, and E-
     mail address of the Alliance for Justice, and the names of 
     certain member organizations and the dollar amounts of 
     Federal grants they received;
       Whereas, in her opening statement at the hearing, the 
     president of the Alliance for Justice identified the document 
     as being forged and contained errors and requested an 
     explanation from the chairman of the subcommittee as to the 
     source of the document;
       Whereas, in response, the chairman acknowledged that the 
     document was created by the subcommittee staff;
       Whereas, House Information Resources, at the request of the 
     subcommittee staff, prepared the forged document;
       Whereas, the document was prepared using official funds;
       Whereas, the chairman of the subcommittee acknowledged in a 
     letter, dated September 28, 1995, to the president of the 
     Alliance for Justice that ``the graphics, unfortunately, 
     appeared to simulate the Alliance's letterhead'';
       Whereas, the September 29, 1995, issue of the National 
     Journal's Congress Daily reported that Representative 
     McIntosh's communications director said that the ''the 
     letterhead was taken from a faxed document, scanned into 
     their computer system and altered''; and
       Whereas, questions continue to arise regarding the 
     responsibility for preparation of the forged document: the 
     chairman of the subcommittee stated during the hearing that 
     he had no prior knowledge of the document's preparation; the 
     chairman later stated that the subcommittee staff prepared 
     the document; and other published reports suggested that 
     Chairman McIntosh's personal office prepared the document;
       Whereas, on September 27, 1995, the Speaker expressed 
     concern over the distribution of

[[Page 1584]]

     unattributed documents and announced a policy requiring that 
     materials disseminated on the floor of the House must bear 
     the name of the Member authorizing their distribution;
       Whereas, Members and staff of the House have an obligation 
     to ensure the proper use of documents and other materials and 
     exhibits prepared for use at committee and subcommittee 
     hearings and which are made available to Members, the public 
     or the press, and to ensure that the source of such documents 
     or other materials is not misrepresented;
       Whereas, committees and subcommittees should not create 
     documents for use in their proceedings that may give the 
     impression that such documents were created by other persons 
     or organizations, as occurred at the September 28, 1995, 
     hearing of the Subcommittee on National Economic Growth, 
     Natural Resources, and Regulatory Affairs;
       Whereas, the dissemination of a forged document distorts 
     the public record and affects the ability of the House of 
     Representatives, its committees, and Members to perform their 
     legislative functions, and constitutes a violation of the 
     integrity of committee proceedings which form a core of the 
     legislative process: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, that the Speaker shall take such action as may be 
     necessary to provide an appropriate remedy to ensure that the 
     integrity of the legislative process is protected, and shall 
     report his actions and recommendations to the House.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore, Mr. FOLEY, responded to the foregoing notice, 
and said:
  ``Under rule IX, a resolution offered from the floor by a Member other 
than the majority leader or the minority leader as a question of the 
privileges of the House has immediate precedence only at a time or place 
designated by the Speaker in the legislative schedule within two 
legislative days of its being properly noticed. The Chair will announce 
the Speaker's designation tomorrow. In the meantime, the form of the 
resolution proffered by the gentlewoman from New York [Ms. Slaughter] 
will appear in the Record at this point.
  ``The Chair is not at this point making a determination as to whether 
the resolution constitutes a question of privilege. That determination 
will be made at the time designated by the Speaker for consideration of 
the resolution.''.
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